Migrant shelters struggle to keep lights on
"We're barely making it, I've thought to myself which shelter can I close to keep the lights on for the other," said Madueño.
MEXICALI, B.C. (KYMA, KECY) - Less than a mile from the U.S. Mexico border there are people waiting, waiting under the hot Mexicali sun for an answer that determines everything.
Altagracia Madueño the founder of the Cobina Civil Association, runs three migrant shelters that house 245 refugees predominately from Central America.
The shelters have been struggling as donations have decreased and asylum cases have been put on pause.
“We're barely making it, I've thought to myself which shelter can I close to keep the lights on for the other,” said Altagracia Madueño, Founder.
Keeping up with supplies needed to survive the pandemic have also put a strain.
“But having to buy sanitizer gel, a lot of Clorox all the cleaning supplies needed for this pandemic had led to us spending a lot of money.”
Even the distribution of meals has decreased.
Here, here we gave 400 meals daily what happened is we had to cut it down to 100. Why? because we can’t have much contact with people.
Madueño also says deportations are also looking different because of the pandemic.
“In Alpha Omega, One young man who was deported and broke both his arms because what happened is he tried to cross the border on the mountain and he fell and broke both his arms, there are others that have their legs broken and there's people that are hospitalized, its because if someone jumps they make them come back from where they jumped."
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